Spartacus game part II. Rough draft. Rougher than for the gladiators.
You are a citizen of Rome. You have three resource pools:
Prestige - support of the plebs', renown, good name
Station - political & legal power, influence
Wealth - property (land, slaves, things, food, deeds...) & hard cash
Violence - thugs at your back or a knife in your sleeve
You get 3d4, 2d6, 1d8 & 1d10. Bank and assort them amongst the four pools, however you see fit.
You also get Ambition d12.
II.
When you want something from someone and you know they won't just give it away, you can issue a threat or present and offer. Introduce an element that your threat or offer consists of, assign a die from a relevant resource pool based on how you judge its worth and roll.
Roll your Ambition die as well and they roll their relevant resource die.
Actually, I think it should be a third, neutral party assigning the die value of offers. Or maybe there's a list that tells you how much stuff is worth, but it's also relative, so, oh, I dunno. Need to see this in an actual play situation.
III.
Look for the highest of the three.
A) if your Ambition is highest, oh you overstep, then look at the other two dice
a1) if your resource is second highest, they accepted, but you cannot deliver on what you proposed (you owe them now)
a2) if their resource is second highest, your offer is simply insulting or stupid
B) if your proposition is highest, deal is struck, then look at the other two dice
b1) if your ambition is second highest, what you got isn't as good as you thought
b2) if their resource is second highest, the gods favour you
C) if their resource is highest, you present too little, then look at the other two dice
c1) if your ambition is second highest, you must present more
c2) if your resource is second highest, there's nothing you can do now
Here's what you can ask of people, in general: their blood, their life, their money, their word, their stuff, their slaves, their love...
I haven't tested or thought out all the permutations, so some results might be funky.
IV.
Note, you went to the dice because they wouldn't just part with it willingly like that. The fact that you won with your little pieces of plastic doesn't mean they are suddenly willing, it just means that you put them in a situation where they couldn't refuse.
V.
Missing: currency, change, advancement etc. This is just a sketch of a resolution system.
VI.
Next up: subsystem for playing Slaves, then the relationships that tie all three subsystems together. Basically, each of these is a separate little game, but if you have more players it all clicks together. There are a lot of things not yet apparent.
Off to watch some Adventure Time.
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